


Camp

by plsnskanks (orphan_account)



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Ellsworld, Gen, Summer Camp, tord just wants his comic book back, tori just wants to hang out with her friends all summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-31 16:37:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13979205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/plsnskanks
Summary: Every year they go home early because of Tord's poor behavior. Underwear flag, fire ants, Tom's bed in the pool. Not this year. Tord's comic book is on the line.





	1. Check-in

"Now Tord, no biting, no eating things that aren’t food, no stealing, no...." his mother’s voice drones on and on as Tord mashes his face against the car window, groaning in annoyance at being at the end of another lecture about the do's and do not's of polite society. 

He turns his gaze outwards watching the rush of pine trees passing by and as the big wooden sign of the camp becomes visible as they round the bend he can feel the well of excitement in his stomach. They're almost there. His friends are there. The lake is there. Campfires and ghost stories and night games and fireflies and his mind is exploding with the possibilities.

In the seat next to him his sister sits, idly braiding and unbraiding a thin strip of hair, only seeming mildly annoyed by their mother’s ongoing lecture. They pull up to the camp and as the engine cuts so does the lecture.

Their mom is out of the car and opening the back trunk, unloading the bags one by one. As Tord is about to pop open his door Tori grabs him by the hand. He looks into his sister's cool silver eyes and the lack of warmth gives him chills.

"Tord," she begins.

"Don't you start too," Tord groans and tries to yank his hand out from his sister's grip. She merely digs her meticulously manicured nails into his skin, smiling meanly as he winces. She lets go of the half braided strand of hair and pokes her finger into the tip of his nose.

“Oh, I’m going to start. Because every summer for the last three years, we’ve gone home weeks or even a month earlier than we should,” Tori starts to twist her hand and Tord finds himself sucking air through his teeth and his eyes watering. “All because you have to pull some stupid stunt with Ell’s brother, or Paul or Diwi or whoever.” Tori says tersely.

"Not. This. Year," Tori commands and then lets go of her brothers wrist. He is instantly rubbing away at the little stinging half moons his sister left, glaring at her angrily with what are most certainly not tears in his eyes. She merely finished unbraiding the strand for the last time, flicks her hair over her shoulder and slides herself out of the car landing lightly on two feet. Tord follows her out the same side, slamming the door behind him.

"Hi Tamaraaaa," Tori calls in an overly sweet tone at the girl hoisting her guitar case onto her shoulder. Tamara merely looks over at her brother and then back at Tori, shudders, and keeps walking. Tori mutters something under her breath, and as it is for once not directed at him, Tord opts not to worry about it.

Tord finds himself hoisted off his feet and swung around in a giant bear hug. He's set down, turned around and he meets midair in a body slam that sends them both sprawling to the ground laughing. 

"Hi Edd!" Tord's mom chuckles as she ruffles his hair and hands her son his suitcase and sleeping bag. "Now you keep him out of trouble while I go sign him in."

"Mom," Tord groans at her already retreating form. 

"Hey guys!" Matt and his sister appear behind the side of the car. "Is Tom here yet?"

Tord nods.

"Well then, the gang's all here!" Matt says excitedly.

"Pff, let's hope they all stay here," Edd chuckles, nudging Tord. Tord elbows him sharply in reply.

"Can you guys let that joke drop for one second?" 

"I dunno, it's a pretty good joke," Edd said, careful to move out of elbow range first.

"What was it last year again?" Matilda asked, blue eyes sparkling mischievously.

"He broke his leg trying to climb down the camp flag pole after replacing the flag with his underwear, or wait was that the year before last year?" Matt said.

"No that year he fostered a fire ant colony in his cabin until it was uninhabitable, last year- " Edd began, before Tord slammed his palm over his mouth only to immediately withdraw it in disgust when Edd licked it. He wiped his hand on an inattentive Matt.

"Last year," Tori spoke up loudly, silencing the remaining chatter in the group, "Tord put Tom's mattress in the middle of the camp pool, with Tom on it."

Edd snorted, "Ah right now could I forget, he still complains weekly."

"Alright you kids have fun, you're all signed in," Tord is given a kiss which he quickly wipes off and Tori is given one as well before their mom waves goodbye and gets into the car and drives off. Tori watches the car disappear before rifling through her back and pulling out something that immediately captures Tord's attention.

"Hey! My comic book!" He goes to grab it but Tori yanks it back. Its not just any comic book. It’s his first edition, signed by the actual author Red Leader comic book. And his jerk sister has it.

"You want this to make it home inside sleeve, in one piece, preferably no water damage right?" Tori says, tilting her head at the end of her question.

Tord drops his hands to his side where they ball into fists and grits out, "Yes...."

"Good because the only way that's going to happen is if we make it all. Ten. Weeks. For once. So let's both be happy campers by the end of summer." With that Tori is slipping comic book into her bag as carefully as he would have done himself. He has to admit she really knows how to make a point.

"Tori," Matilda murmurs under her breath looking at her friend, taken aback. 

Tori merely flashes a winning smile and trots over to greet Ell.

"Your sister is quiet the b word if I may say so," Matt says as she is out of earshot. Matilda nods her head slightly.

"Yeah she is a butthole," Tord says glumly, "But she's got my comic and I know she's really serious about it."

Tord kicks the dirt.

"Cheer up buddy, we'll keep you out of trouble," Edd says as he puts an arm around his shoulder. 

"Yeah don't worry, we'll lookout for you!" Matt says, grinning widely. Tord wishes he could share his optimism.

"I've never even made it to the week eight campfire, how am I gonna make it ten weeks?"

"Don't be stupid," Tom pipes up as he approaches from the distance. " It's not hard for everyone but you. Just keep my bed out of the pool this time."

"I gave you a life jacket for a pillow," Tord muttered.

"Yeah, you keep that attitude, see how long you last," Tom smirks. Tord's shoulders slump.

"Come on Tom, even you say camp gets more boring when Tord goes home," Edd pitches as he holds Tord a little tighter.

Tom straightens up defensively, "I do not." 

Matilda laughs, "Tamara says you do."

"Yeah well Tamara says the same thing about Tori so," Tom says crossing his arms and huffing disgruntledly.

"So it's agreed, Tord isn't going home this summer," Edd says.

"Here, here," Matt and Matilda cheer.

"Alright let's get Ell and Tam in on it too," Matilda says. "And Tord you can tell Paul and Pat. And Edd whatever you do, don't tell Eduardo."

"Pff, Eduardo, what's he going to do?" Edd says waving his hand.

"Get Tord kicked out of camp if that's the opposite of what you want," Tom says pointedly. "And we all know it would be easy for him to pull off if he set his mind to it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tord glared.

"It means your weak willed and easily manipulated," Tom said bluntly. Tord looked to Edd for his defense.

"Your sister has your comic book and you are changing your entire behavior this summer because you are weak willed and easily manipulated," Edd shrugged.

Tord put his face in his hands and moaned. His comic book was fish food.

"But the rest of us aren't. And all of us are used to you getting in trouble and Eduardo and his crew instigating, so don't worry, we got this."

Tord looks up to see his friends smiling confidently, even Tom with a little half smile, and he feels like maybe... just maybe.

He can go all ten weeks.


	2. Week 1

Week one is. 

Well.

It's something. It gets off on the wrong foot almost immediately when ten minutes into camp introductions Tord figures out who the lead councilor is.

It's Bing. Bing does not like Tord. Tord does not like Bing.

Bing also happened to have been the one who's underwear was set full mast atop the flagpole a few years back. He was the one who discovered the fire ant infestation and promptly arrived outside the boy's cabin screaming and covered in them. He was in charge of figuring out how to get an incredibly heavy water-logged mattress out of the pool.

So once again. Let's reiterate. Bing does not like Tord. Before Tord can really process it, Bing is basically growling in his face.

"Look at me Thorgunn, I've had it up to here," Bing raises his hand exactly to Tord's height, " with your summer shenanigans. You have three strikes and you go home. A camper complains about you? That's a strike. Another councilor complains about you? That's a strike. You aren't at a camp scheduled activity? That's a strike. Got it Thorgunn?"

Tord nods once, harshly. 

Bing gives him a long look before pulling himself back up to his full height. "Good."

“Boy that guy is something,” Edd says as Bing heads off.

“He’s got your number, that’s for sure,” Tom says.

“It’s ten weeks, come on, you can make it,” Edd says nudging Tord.

“You say that every year Edd and yet….” Tom says, slinging his bag over his shoulder and heading in the direction of the boy’s cabin.

“And yet this year he’s going to make it,” Edd says, picking up his own bags. “Come on Tord it’s summer, cheer up. You know Tom he just likes to get under your skin.”

“It’s working,” Tord says dourly. He follows after them, Matt tagging along as well.

“Don’t worry Tord this summer will be just swell,” Matt says cheerily. “There’s going to be a water fight later this week, doesn’t that sound fun?”

Tord had to admit it did sound pretty fun.

They enter the cabin to see most of the other boys have set up their bunks already. Edd motions to an empty one, “You want to be astronaut and I’ll be ground control?”

Tord nods excitedly and throws his bag up on the top bunk. For the first time since Tori pulled out his comic book, he can feel some of his old camp spirit coming back.

Tom is on the top bunk across from him. He takes out his guitar from the case and strums it a few times, tunes it a little then puts it back.

“Got any good camp songs planned?” Tord asks. Despite all the ribbing and digs he likes Tom, especially at camp. He’s a solid hiking buddy, not as fun to talk to as Edd maybe, but he’s calm in a way that jives with Tord.

Tom shrugs, “Anything fairly popular on the radio I guess, and some of the classics.”

“Ohh that will be fun at the campfire,” Matt says from below.

The door bangs open and in comes the neighbors. Well, Edd’s neighbor to be specific, and his two friends. They all lived on the same street and were all equally disliked by the group.   
“Hey losers,” Eduardo acknowledged before continuing on. Jon gave a slight nod and Mark locked eyes with Matt almost immediately.

“Mark.”

“Matt.”

“Stay away from my sister,” Matt bit out.

Mark rolled his eyes, “I will when she stops coming over to chat.” He then turns on his heel and heads across the cabin.

“Hate that kid,” Matt mutters. 

Edd grins, “So get him extra good at the water fight later this week.” 

Matt nods resolutely.

The week passes relatively calmly. Bing seems to be virtually breathing down Tord’s neck the first couple days before he seemingly remembers there are other and sometimes more idiotic campers, like Eduardo who somehow managed to superglue Jon’s finger to his nose during craft time.

Friday arrives and the sun is up and sweltering by ten a.m., meaning it is indeed the perfect day for a water fight. After breakfast everyone is up and out of the cabins early, applying sunscreen and laying on the cool grass, waiting for the councilors to arrive with the water buckets and empty balloons.

The next hour is a group effort in which the entire camp fills water guns, ties up balloons and rules about aiming at the eyes or filling the guns with anything other than water is issued.

Tom, Matt and Eddy form a chain line of filling, tying and placing water balloons in the giant bucket will Tord seemingly disappears for a while as instructions are being given and the rest of the camp is tramping down to the grass clearing shortly before the lake shore.  
Edd catches sight of his sister briefly, clad in shorts and a bikini top with Tamara by her side dressed similarly.

“Where’s the other half of your crew?” He asks.

“Sissies don’t want to get their hair wet,” Tamara says with a roll of her eyes, jerking her finger over to a large clump of boulders, the very tallest of which is about five feet off the ground and currently being sat upon by Matilda and Tori who survey the camp cooly behind twin pairs of shades. They look like proper divas, posed for a picture.

“We are totally going to nail them with balloons later if you wanna join in,” Ell snickers. 

“Count me in for that, have you seen Tord by any chance?” 

“Nah, haven’t seen him since breakfast,” Ell shrugs before heading off to lay claim to a water gun, Tamara in tow.

By the time Bing is about to blow the whistle for the start of the water fight Tord is arriving back with two greenish looking balloons. Edd is sure the deflated balloons he had were blue. Instantly all three of his friends know what he is up to.

“Tord no,” Edd says even though he can’t help grinning in amusement. 

Tord returns the grin, “Tord yes.”

“If that hits someone and they snitch you are going to get a strike,” Matt says worriedly.

“If that either that balloon or your hands touch me you are getting a strike,” Tom says, shifting to put Matt between himself and Tord. 

“Relax,” Tord says, lazily tossing one of the balloons up and down in one hand, “I’ll throw it at Jon or some kid who’s already soaked.”

As Tord isn’t paying attention Edd reaches out and knocks the balloon from his hand, letting it drop and burst on the grass.

“You traitor,” Tord yells as Edd, Matt and Tom all scatter.

Tord runs after them but quickly loses track and sight of all three as everyone finds some sort of cover. He listens to the silence nearby as distantly other kids laugh and shout. Then he hears a twig snap underfoot behind him.

Tord whirls around flinging the balloon only to realize just as its left his hand that he’s just flung it at councilor Larry who can’t even see it coming from that side because of his patch. 

“Look out,” Tord calls as he watches the balloon fly toward the councilor in slow motion.

A flash of orange darts in front and the next thing Tord sees is Matt with a soaking wet t-shirt. He gapes at his friend who immediately flings off his shirt and throws it right in Tord’s face.

Tord hurriedly tosses it onto the ground and looks up to see Matts face inches from his.

“There is no way I did that for you and you are going home early this year,” Matt says, turning and dashing off to the showers.

Tord thinks about going after him until Edd nails him in the back of the head with a water balloon. He turns around to see Edd, shirt full of water balloons and Tom standing next to him with a giant super soaker aimed precisely at him. He’s got swim goggles pulled down over his eyes and is glaring at Tord fiercely. 

“By order of the Green Alliance we order you to stand down Red Leader,” Edd commands.

Tord’s face darkens as he can feel himself getting into his favorite character, “Alright, alright, you’ve got me.” He puts his hands up, looking to Tom and then to Edd and back again.

Edd can’t help but grin, breaking character for a split second before recovering his composure, “Alright then, to the brig with you.” He points his gun at a muddy pit in the middle of the clearing.

Tord laughs exaggeratedly, “Hahaha, no, I am afraid it is you, old friend, who will be going to the brig.”

“Wh-,” Tom starts before he and Edd both feel two water pistols bump the back of their heads. 

“By order of the red army,” Pat shouts.

“We demand you to surrender,” Paul finishes.

“Not so fast criminal scum,” A now shirtless and sopping wet Matt returns gun in hand. Wet hair plastered to his forehead he glares boldly, “You let them go or your precious Red Leader gets it.”

They’re at a standstill until twin ear-piercing shrieks sound off across the clearing. 

“Tamara, Ell,” Tord cringes at the angry tone he instantly recognizes as all too familiar. All heads turn to see Ell and Tamara at a dead run laughing and screaming as Tori practically launches herself off the rock after them, leaving a soaking wet and miserable looking Matilda atop the rock.

Matt catches sight of Mark on a beeline straight to her with a towel.

“Oh no you don’t,” he says under his breath, pumping his gun and taking off towards him.

While everyone is distracted Tord takes the opportunity to escape. “Paul, Pat, lets meet up at meeting place alpha.”

The two nod and quickly disappear into the forest.

He sprints off, Edd and Tom quickly taking note and following hot on his heels until Tord reaches the pit and leaps across it, barely managing to touch down on the other side. Edd and Tom both try to follow suit but Edd misses and lands flat in middle of the pit, instantly covered up to his waist in the stuff, losing all his ballots in the process. Tom does not fair much better as he loses his balance on the edge and teeters in falling flat on his back, the mud completely enveloping him. He arises as monstrous sludge monster, his swim goggles being the only thing visible apart from the mud and Edd scrambles up the side to escape him.

“Attack of the Mud Monster!” he shouts.

Tom emerges out of the pit flinging mud everywhere and roaring.

“Matt!” Edd calls as he sees his friend returning, looking all too smug about something.

“Yeah?”

“Initiate operation clean the mud monster!” Edd says and Matt pulls up his water gun and shoots it at Tom. Tom flings some mud his way in response. A few minutes later they’re all considerably muddier, excepting Tom, and their guns are empty.

They rinse off in the lake and Tord, Paul and Pat reappear as well. They all head off to get their lunch from the councilors and return to the lake edge to eat it. Ell and the rest of her crew arrive to sit with them too and the group enjoys the sunshine and the calm of the day.

“So Matt, what ever happened to Mark?” Tord asks. Matilda’s eyes narrow as she looks at her brother.

“He threw a wad of lake mud at him and nearly got pounded into the dirt for it. I don’t understand why you two can’t just get along,” Matilda says as she bit into her sandwich rather viciously.

“I was trying to help him wipe that smug look off his face, he should be thanking me, really,” Matt said, staring down his twin and taking an equally large bite. The rest of the group could practically feel the tension oscillating between them.

“So Tord, making it through week one alright I see,” Pat says. Paul nods.

“Yeah, Matt saved my bacon earlier though,” Tord said.

Matt breaks eye contact with his twin to give Tord a dead eyed stare, “Really. Don’t mention it.”

Tori notes the exchange, “Tord its week one. Your stupidity usually ramps up exponentially the longer we are away from home. You better not be acting out of control already.”

“He’ll be fine, have a little faith,” Edd says lackadaisically.

“Coming from the kid who almost got sent home with him one year,” Tori snorted.

“Those fire ants weren’t harming anyone until Bing trespassed into their cabin,” Eddy says.

“Yeah whatever Edd, just don’t egg on any of Tord’s crazy ideas,” Ell butts in, looking at her brother. “If I have to go home early you are not going to like the car ride home.”

“Yeah, yeah, we are all working to keep him out of trouble this year,” Edd says.

They switch topics eventually and the rest of the day is pretty uneventful. Everyone dries off quickly in the heat of the day and it seems like barely any time at all has passed before it’s dinner time and they’re heading back to the mess hall. 

Tord gives Matt his pudding.

“For taking the, er, hit earlier.”

“Not sure what hit you’re talking about but not going to say no to extra pudding,” Matt says with a wink. Tord smiles a bit and rests easier knowing the incident is settled between them.

Saturday is canoeing on the lake and despite overturning their canoe several times with his antics, Tord is otherwise well behaved.

Sunday is easy and relaxed and at the very end Tord is in his bunk looking up at the cracks in the ceiling after lights out.

“Hey Turd,” Tom calls from the adjacent bunk.

“What is it Tim?” Tord gives the usual reply.

“Nice job making it through week one without a strike,” Tom says. He can’t see it in the dark, but Tord’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise at the genuine tone of the statement. “Now just go nine more without putting my mattress in the pool.

“Pff, as if I could do that again,” Tord chuckled. “Do you know how hard it is to get a mattress off the top bunk without dropping it? I couldn’t believe you slept through that.”

“I sleep like the dead, you guys are exhausting,” Tom said, rolling over to face away from Tord as if to prove his point.

“Yeah, how about you two go to sleep now, I need my beauty sleep,” Matt calls from below.

Both Tom and Tord snort but the conversation ends and they’re asleep in minutes.


	3. Week 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It rains, it pours, tords hates being stuck indoors

Week two starts off well. It's not very eventful. Tord builds a Red Leader out of a bunch of sticks and felt and while it may look like exactly that to everyone else, to Tord it’s the best thing he's ever made and probably will ever make.

His masterpiece, his magnum opus.

He spends about two days idolizing it, playing with it, taping to his shirt when not in use just to make sure Tori can't steal it. Sometimes he just spends a long while looking at it.

He calls it art. Tom calls it vaguely unsettling. Tom is a charlatan.

Then it rains and some of the glue and rubber bands that held such a mighty warrior together give way and Tord is left with a soggy pile of materials and a broken spirit.

Even when Edd tries to help him fix it it's of little use and Tord ends up getting frustrated and chucking it into the lake in a dramatic sacrifice. If he was allowed within half a mile of a lighter and it wasn’t raining he would have given it a viking funeral.

“Well, can't help you there, buddy" Edd sighs. He knows Tord and Tord's moods and they tend to get a lot worse before they get better. Tom gives Edd a meaningful look.

“Tord I know things are rough but it'll turn out all right,” Matt says. But the three of them can see it's a moot point. They have at least a day or two indoors and as school and Tord's detention count has shown them, Tord does not tend to do well indoors.

Tord’s mood worsens as the weather does and he finds himself stuck with about thirty other campers in the mess hall poking glumly at his lunch.

He's notably restless, fidgeting in his seat and staring out the window distantly for a few moments, not touching his food before the sound of someone's chair scraping back seemingly snaps him out of his trance.

“Edd, I'm going to get cabin fever,” Tord says jamming his fork into a half eaten hot dog. “And go crazy like that one guy in that one movie that's secretly about the moon landing or something.”

Tom and Matt share worried looks and mutually agree that it's a good thing Tord sleeps closest to Edd. Gives them more time to run if things go south.

Edd breaks his cookie in half, “Here you want half of this?” Tord looks at it a long moment. Bing seemed to be purposefully forgetting to give Tord his dessert at meal time whenever he was on lunch duty, which was every other meal, it seemed. Tord grabs it and the half eaten hot dog and shoves the two of them in his pocket together.

Matt crinkles his nose in distaste. “You really want to eat those later?”

“I'm not hungry right now Matt,” Tord says and the grouchy look he sends his friend’s way has him backing off immediately.

“Alright, fine, fine, enjoy,” Matt says as Tom shakes his head. Tord's expression darkens and he shoves his seat back from the table taking his tray with him. The crew was used to this sort of solitary behavior when Tord was in a foul mood.

“You think we should follow him?” Tom asked, watching as Tord gave his tray to the cafeteria staff and started towards the exit.

“He's going back to the cabin with a pocket full of soon to be wet mush, what is he gonna to between here and there?” Edd said as he leaned back on his chair and put his feet up on the table.

“Tord finds a way,” Tom mutters, but slumps onto the table regardless. The mess hall doors close and visual of their friend is lost.

They stay and chat for a bit finishing up their meals. Matt wanders off for a bit to go shoo Mark away from his giggling sister, who is substantially less giggly after the fact. Tori is braiding Ell’s hair in the corner while Ell describes in detail the graphic deaths of each main character of the new Zombie Attack movie in the order they occur. Tom, Tamara and Edd start trying to build a house of cards with a deck Tom seemingly has on him at all times. All in all it turns out to be a pretty relaxing day. 

They're technically don't have to head back until after dinner but Tom says he wants to play on his guitar a bit and Edd decides he wouldn't mind rereading some of the comics he backed, so leaving Matt behind with a now seething twin seems like the optimal plan.

Matilda's voice can hit uncomfortably shrill tones when she is annoyed.

They share an umbrella and enjoy a quiet and peaceful walk back to the cabin. 

And immediately open the door to a haggard and distraught Tord. 

“Oh thank god, you guys gotta help me.”

Tom slapped a hand to his face and groaned.

Edd looked like he wanted to laugh but knew well enough the situation did not call for it, without fully knowing what the situation was.

“What could you have possibly,” Tom started, then he stopped. He stopped, because he noticed something moving in the background of the cabin. Something that was neither him nor Edd and obviously not Tord.

“How… did a,” Tom trailed off.

Tord shuffled his feet anxiously and Tom noticed the bulge of food was gone from his pants pocket.

“You led a raccoon into the cabin using food,” Tom said. “Edd are you going to… are you crying?”

Edd sucked in an enormous breath of air. “ Tord you are my best friend forever.” He wiped tears from his eyes.

“Well, what did you name it,” Edd asked, recovering himself a bit. Tom looked thoroughly annoyed. 

“It's a wild animal he shouldn't name it anything, he should let it go back outside.”

Edd slung his arm around Tom's shoulder, “Aww come on Tom, it's raining outside.”

“Fine why don't we name it Mr. I have rabies and the nearest hospital is a half hour ride.”

“Bit long for my tastes,” Edd said, thinking for a minute. “How about Ringo 2?”

“How about Tord is going home week 2? Also do you clinically number everything you love?” 

“‘Course not Tom 3,” Edd said with a grin.

“Guys,” Tord cut in. “I don't want to go home.”

“Well if you think Mark or someone wouldn't snitch about something with fleas potentially getting in and touching his stuff,” Tom said pointedly.

“Okay so prop open the door and we can probably scare it out,” Edd shrugged. He took the woodblock they usually used to do just that and viola. Door open, bitter chill blowing into the cabin.

“Alright so go scare it,” Tom said, climbing on top of his bunk. 

Tord shook his head. “I already tried. It wouldn't move and it made weird noises so i poked it with the stick and it bit the stick and the stick broke and oh my god if I go home week two Tori is going to destroy my comic and throw all my other ones in a puddle and my mom is going to ground me and send me to military camp.”

Edd sighed. He knew one of these when he saw one. “Hey go sit on my bed, I got this.” 

Tord swallowed and nodded.

In reality, Edd did not have this. Edd had no clue how to get this. He just knew his best friend needed him to hit a homerun before some snitch decided to come back to their cabin and ruined their whole summer.

Edd got an idea. He pulled the blanket off Matts bed, slung it around his shoulders and grabbed either end with his hands. He picked those fan type dinosaurs, the kind that puffed themselves up to look bigger in the movies.

He walked to the far end of the cabin and spread his arms out. He made sure to stomp heavily as he approached so the raccoon turned to look at him. He didn't have to get too close before the raccoon started backing up.

“Hey Tom get off the bed,” Edd called.

“What, why?”

“Because if this thing runs down a side isle and gets cornered I have no clue how to get it out, just help me herd it towards the door.”

Tom opened his mouth to argue that Tord should do it, but then he got a look at Tord, pale faced and shaking and he sighed and got down off the bed dragging his blanket off with him.

He spread his arms and approached from the isle. The raccoon quickly turned away from him and when Edd gave one final harsh stamp of his foot and a dramatic, rumbling roar, the raccoon scampered out into the downpour. Edd pulled the wedge out from under the door and let it slam shut.

“Okay, banned camp activities, attempting to tame raccoons,” Edd said, tossing Matt's blanket onto his bed.

Tom did likewise.

“Why would you even do that?” Tom asked.

Tord shrugged miserably, “He looked cold and unhappy, he was hiding under the mess hall. So I gave some food and he started following me and he followed me all the way into the cabin.”

Tom and Edd knew well enough that the whole story was probably a lot more involved on Tord's end but left it alone.

Tord sniffed, “Also he had a name already and it was Lieutenant Bites. He was going to be my sidekick.”

“How would he have been a good sidekick?” Tom snorted.

“Rabies sounds like a pretty good superpower if you've read the wiki page. It basically melts your brain,” Edd said, wiggling his fingers at Tom. Tom slapped them away.

“Either way, Tord no more wild animal stuff, whatever your intention was that one was an instant three strike for sure,” Tom looked at his friend seriously.

Tord sighed, “I know, I just hate the rain and being stuck inside and Bing and Tori.”

“Tori seems pretty happy right now though,” Edd commented.

“Only because she forgot I exist for now,” Tord mumbled.

“Yeah and that's a good thing, believe me,” Tom said climbing up in his bunk to lay down.

“Yeah,” Edd shrugged. He rifled through his back and pulled out a stack of comics. “Here you ever read “Modulo Man"?”

Tord shook his head.

“Well, now you can. Hopefully these will last you until the weather clears.”

Tord is up all night reading and rereading the comics. He sleeps until lunch the next day, which is still rainy. But this day passes rather uneventfully with Tord talking animatedly with Edd about all the intricacies and plot threads and side characters he's discovered in the comics.

Then they get the brilliant idea to write their own comic for an adventure mashup between Red Leader and Modula Man vs the Evil Lieutenant Bites. It's a smash hit among the thirty something campers and Tord finds himself getting Paul and Pat into Edd’s comics as well.

 

Overall they make it to a sunny end to week 2 without another hitch, largely because of those comics and Edd’s seemingly endless love of talking and drawing with his best friend.

As soon as he can, Tord is out in the bright sunshine, yelling at the top of his lungs about superheros and finding the rogue lieutenant and he's tired himself out by noon with all the running and whooping much to his friends’ relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes its a tf2 reference


	4. Week 3

Week three. Week three is heavenly after week two. The skies part, sunlight cracks through the solemn somber clouds to gracefully spill golden light on the camp and Tord is basically bouncing off the walls with excitement at the sight. Most of the week is the usual camp activities of crafts, swimming, games of freeze tag. Saturday, however, is the hike.

He wakes up at five. Breakfast isn’t till 9 and the rest of his crew don’t tend to wake up until eight or eight thirtyish. Tord eyes the door.

He is bored. And outside is very clearly not boring.

But he really can’t afford to be taking risks with all the risks his friends have been taking for him. Tord glances at Matt’s sleeping face and shivers.

So he waits. He watches the shifting shadows creeping along the wall, sneaks into Edd’s bag to find a few more of his comics to reread, sneaks them back into his bag. Decides it would be fun to see how many things he could balance on Edd’s sleeping figure before he wakes up. Finds out Edd is a very heavy sleeper as he runs out of things to put on him.

By the time the rest of the camp is stirring Tord is practically ready to bounce of the walls. Edd wakes up bewildered as to how Tom’s guitar got on top of him as Tord spots Bing and Larry passing by outside and takes that as his cue to jump down from his bunk with a loud slam startling several campers awake, and run out of the cabin.

Tord probably runs a mile before breakfast. 

“Hello Tord,” Larry greets as he enters. Tord rather liked Larry compared to Bing. The man was monotone with a rather dry sense of humor but he was at least amicable to Tord. “Better save that energy for the hike today.”

“We have a hike?”

Larry smiles, “You should pay close attention to the schedule if you don’t want a strike for being tardy. Yes, flagpole after breakfast. We are going to the falls.”

Tord’s eyes light up, “The falls! With the little pools full of tadpoles?”

“Cannot say I look for tadpoles when I visit, but you are probably right,” Larry says.

They eat breakfast and Tord is so excited to see tadpoles that he nearly chokes during breakfast while ranting about the things he learned about them on animal planet and Edd has to give him the Heimlich until Tord is red-faced and gasping with the exertion and effort. Edd sits him back down on the bench and pats him on the back. “Just make it to the hike.” He says and then returns to his breakfast.

Tord does make it to the hike. As they set off on the trail to the falls Larry gets a headcount and verifies with Bing that everyone is all there. Tord and his friends are the last to get counted as they in general tended to hang back, Tord preferring to stay away from his sister and Bing, both liking to be towards the head of the pack.

It’s a nice peaceful day. When there is a lull of silence in the general chattering of the campers, you can hear the trees creak and the soft sound of wind rustling through thousands of leaves that rain down dappled light from above.

While his friends talk Tord’s eyes wander everywhere. From the trees to the squirrels to the various wildflowers. They round a sharp bend in the trail and the other side of the path falls away to a steep slope where below Tord can see a mess of scrub and past that, trees. He looks at the area below and then his eyes catch on a branch sticking out from the slope.

Tord eyes the branch curiously. It isn’t really a branch, it is a root sticking out on a steep slope and on the end of it dangles a necklace. On the end of it is an arrowhead. Tord knows immediately he wants to get it. But he also knows Edd and the rest will think it is a stupid idea and drag him along. So Tord hatches a plan.

“Hey guys, I got to pee, go on ahead,” Tord says.

“Really?” Tom turns back to look at him in annoyance. “You shouldn’t have drank so much at breakfast.”  
With that his friends keep walking and as soon as they round the bend Tord’s eyes dart to the root. It is only about four or five feet down the slope and he thinks if he just manages to go down the right way he can snag it and climb back up.

Tord edges himself down the slope and makes it precisely two steps before the slope crumbles away and he finds himself tumbling down. Right before he falls though, Tord reaches out and snags the arrowhead. The cord breaks and he takes it with him.

Tord finds himself staring in disbelief at the massive slope he had just fallen down. He was scraped and maybe bleeding in a few areas but it was no new event for Tord so he just inspected his damaged extremities with mild interest before standing up and groaning.

He tries to run up the slope. He pretends he is superfast, tries to imagine himself breaking the sound barrier as he sprints towards the slope. He makes it maybe a third of the way up before the loose dirt under him crumbles and he slides back down.

“Dangit,” Tord mutters.

“Hey,” Tord whirls around at the sound of the voice behind him. A kid who looks oddly like himself with a far dirtier set of clothes with much more rips and a curiously large stain on one side with maybe slightly lighter hair emerges from the mess of scrub.

Tord gawks at him. “Were you on the hike too?”

“Hike?” The kid squints at him. “You from the camp?”

“You aren’t?” Tord asks him confusedly.

“Don’t worry about it. I can get you to the falls and back to your group if you want the help.”

Tord’s mom had raised him never to just follow random strangers he didn’t know. She had also raised him not to put other people’s mattresses in the pool, and well, look how that had turned out.

“Okay,” Tord says eagerly.

The kid’s eyes catch on Tord’s clenched hand, “That’s my necklace.”

“Oh, sorry,” Tord looks at the little triangle in his hand and the with a little grimace outstretches his hand. “Here you can have it back.”

“No you keep it, I don’t need it,” The other kid says, glancing at Tord’s outstretched hand with a hint of wistfulness tinting his expression.

Wordlessly he retreats back into the bushes, beckoning Tord to follow. The bushes are sharp and scratch at Tord but he is determined to follow the other kid.

“What’s your name anyway, and how did you get all the way out here, and what happened to your clothes?” Tord pesters.

“Todd, the same way you did, and they got ripped in the fall,” Todd said shortly.

“Oh well, if you know the way back why haven’t you gone home yet?”

“I went home a while ago.” 

Tord really doesn’t know what to make of that response so he thinks on it a bit and they keep walking through the bushes in silence.

Todd leads them to a creek. “If you ever get lost out here again, the creeks around here tend to go to the river and the river goes into town if you follow the direction it flows. The falls are upstream.”

“Oh, okay. You know a lot about nature, huh? You’re like Indiana Jones,” Tord says. “You know all the secrets. Where is the lost arc?”

Todd’s lips twitch upward in sort of attempt at a smile. “I do know a lot of the forest secrets. But maybe not that last one.”

They keep walking up the creek, Todd stepping confidently from stone to stone while Tord struggled after him. For some reason the stones never stayed still for him like they did for Todd. Tord nearly lost his balance a few times and almost fell in the creek.

At last the creek got wider and wider and Todd climbs up a few steps to reveal the campers standing in a huddle as Larry counted them again. 

“C’mon I gotta get counted or I’ll get in trouble. They can’t see me come from here though,” Tord said. Todd nodded. He disappeared into the bushes of the creek again and Tord followed after him. At last Todd stepped out of the bushes and onto the dirt trail and the two of them sprinted up to Larry.

Larry eyed the two of them, “Hey Tord, next time be a little quicker, I won’t mark you late, but Bing would have.”

“Alright Larry,” Tord said gratefully and slightly out of breath. 

“Sorry,” Todd mumbled. Larry didn’t appear to hear him and the two of them walked on to join the others.

“I like coming here because I like to see the tadpoles,” Tord told his newfound friend eagerly pointing at the pools of water where, indeed, little black specks were swimming in frantic little circles in the tepid water. “And also thank you, I would have gotten in trouble if you hadn’t helped me.”

“No problem, the woods can be scary. It’s a good place to have a friend,” Todd said with a soft smile. Tord smiled back and the two of them looked at the swirling tadpoles as the soft rush of the waterfall and the chatter of conversation hummed behind them.

“Alright,” Bing called, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Larry, how’s the count, everyone all here?” Bing eyes the crowd of kids, searching the crowd for… his eyes land on Tord and he looks disappointed.

“Hmm, yes, I counted but I think we should recount, we were one over,” Larry says as he looks at his clipboard in confusion. 

“Well, if everyone is all here I’ll let you guys know the rules, you have an hour and a half….” Tord loses focus as Bing drones on and turns to look back at his newfound friend only to see empty space beside him. He looks across the clearing for any sign of Todd and when Bing dismisses them he checks around for him but doesn’t find him.

A little put out, Tord ties the loose ends of his necklace together and slings it around his neck and tucks it under his shirt to avoid questions about where he got it and he stares at the tadpoles contemplatively for a bit.

“Hey buddy, we lost you there for a bit, you okay,” Edd said. Tord looked up at his friend.

“Oh? Yeah, I just really had to go,” Tord said absentmindedly.

“Alright well, we were going to follow the creek down and see where it goes, Larry says we can as long he escorts us. Wanna come?”

Tord shrugs, “I think I’m okay.”

“Alright,” Edd shrugs and then walks off to leave Tord by his lonesome.

Tord’s spirits remain glum for a few minutes until he spots a frog near the bushes and manages to catch it. He names it Robert and lets Robert go and watches in awe as he catches a fly. This is the highlight of Tord’s afternoon and a hot conversation topic on the way back.

The next morning the campers in Tord’s cabin are relieved to find Tord is one of the last one’s waking up. He was up late in the night drawing on a piece of sketch paper Edd leant him, making a new character for their comic book series. Todd the forest adventurer and rescue ranger. He rides a giant mutant frog and Tord is as proud of his drawing as he is tired next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for how long it has been, I actually have the last chapter for this finished so hopefully this gets finished quicker


End file.
